Tag Archives: Wat Pho

Chinese New Year in Bangkok, Part 4

16 Feb

We made three short drinks and snack stops before visiting the Grand Palace on the third day in Bangkok. The first stop was for a macha green tea, followed by coffee and a pastry, and lastly, an ice cream. Fueled, we were ready for the adventure ahead.

Morning indulgence after breakfast

It was such a hot day! And oh-so crowded. You can tell that these visitors are tourists from all over the world. Just about every other person who walked past us was wearing elephant-print pants. A sure sign of a tourist!

The Grand Palace

The buildings and temples within the Palace grounds were magnificent. The Grand Palace itself was a grand piece of architecture. Unfortunately, some attractions were closed for renovations, but we didn’t mind. We just soaked in the overall grandeur of the place.

When we left the palace grounds, my legs were ready to fall off! Do we have to walk any more? We had to because there were hardly any taxis available nearby. Thank goodness for mobile data that helped us a lot during this trip. Using her mobile phone, M1 figured out which bus to take to leave the area. But the bus Number 2 we hopped on was going in the wrong direction! Hahaha. We didn’t know.

The shortest bus ride in Bangkok on bus Number 2

Nevertheless, what an experience to be on a bus with wooden flooring! How often would you get to be on one in a big city? And the conductor was kind enough to allow us to stay until the next stop without collecting any bus fare. Finally, we managed to hail a cab and headed to Siam Paragon for dinner.

Again, like the day before, it was late when we got back to the hotel. Thank goodness, the next day, the itinerary is a much more relaxed one. Phew.

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Temple Run, Part 3

6 Dec

Lovely architecture.

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Temple Run, Part 2

6 Dec

Mrs Nattaya (who helpfully told us her name sounds like Pattaya), our guide for the half day city tour was very chatty but we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. We learnt that the name Bangkok holds the record for the longest name for a city and it’s listed in the Guinness Book World of Records! Go Google it up.

After ooh-ing and aah-ing at the golden Buddha statue in Wat Traimit, we moseyed along with traffic into Chinatown. Next stop, Wat Pho.

Wat Pho sits on 17 acres of land with lots to see. The Sleeping Buddha, at 46 meters long and 15 meters high is not the longest but the 3rd longest, can you believe it?! The sheer size of it is pretty jaw dropping. Along with 99 pagodas within the compound, I would say it was a very enriching outing.

Weather has been good again today. We head off to take in the various places of interest next.

The half day tour is done and we are all tired out from it. Heading back to the hotel, we are already planning what to eat before we continue with activities for the second half of the day.

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Temple Run

6 Dec

Although we come to Bangkok on a yearly basis, we hardly do the tourist thing because we always come to play golf. So this time, with the girls, it is different. Because we arrived on the day the King celebrated his birthday, the country is proud of the occasion and therefore, we had a very good deal on a city tour. So later after breakfast, we will be visiting several temples, the famed Wat Pho, Wat Traimit and others.

Another enriching experience ahead!